Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Buys 67,343 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 817,543 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 67,343 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned about 0.11% of Booking worth $145,719,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BKNG. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Booking in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $11,646,302,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in shares of Booking during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,691,186,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Booking during the second quarter worth $1,370,455,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the 2nd quarter valued at $992,026,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the 2nd quarter worth about $770,673,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKNG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 target price (up from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Benchmark upped their target price on shares of Booking from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a report on Thursday. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $220.00 price target on shares of Booking and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Booking presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.45.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG stock opened at $205.63 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $154.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.07. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $150.14 and a fifty-two week high of $226.10. The business has a 50-day moving average of $192.18 and a 200-day moving average of $177.64.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $7.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.19 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 102.96% and a net margin of 25.53%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $55.40 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 18.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 375 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.00, for a total transaction of $79,125.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 16,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,404,063. This represents a 2.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.70, for a total value of $206,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,100,500. This represents a 6.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 77,550 shares of company stock worth $16,112,304. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Booking Profile

Booking Holdings Inc is a global online travel company that operates a portfolio of consumer brands and technology platforms that facilitate the search for and booking of travel services. The company’s businesses focus on accommodations, transportation and related travel services through consumer-facing websites and apps as well as partner distribution channels. Booking Holdings was originally founded as Priceline in the late 1990s and adopted the Booking Holdings name in 2018; it is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Its core offerings include online reservations for hotels, vacation rentals and other lodging; flight and car rental search and booking; and ancillary services that support travel planning and on-property experiences.